Victoria Folashade ‘Shade’ Thomas-Fahm was born in Nigeria in 1933. In 1953 she travelled to Britain with a view to training as a nurse under the sponsorship of the British Council but her interest in fashion led her to instead take an evening class to gain her National Diploma and subsequently enroll at Saint Martin’s School of Art to study fashion. Thomas-Fahm returned to Lagos, Nigeria in 1960 and established her own boutique at the Federal Palace Hotel, Maison Shade (later known as Shade’s Boutique). She also opened a factory on the Yaba Industrial Estate to produce her contemporary reimagining of local Nigerian garments and textile techniques. Championing Nigerian fabrics and silhouettes, Thomas-Fahm designed for the cosmopolitan, working woman. Her boutique swiftly became the go-to place for people of style in Lagos and she counted diplomats and royalty amongst her regular clientele.